Post by martindn on Oct 25, 2009 17:46:53 GMT
Hi All,
I've surfaced again after Church this morning at a spell of greenhouse building. It is just about done now, I put the door on today!
Thanks Grant for the report, there is not a lot I can add to it really. My day was rather similar to yours! But I Will try to add a few bits.
I left home a bit later than Grant did, 1pm,being about 30 miles closer to the venue, and gave up on the attempt to buy fuel for my car, having seen the length of the queues at the two local garages I passed, I decided that I had enough diesel to get to St Albans and back
Drove down the M1 through the drizzle, and got there about 2.30. There is an underground car park at the back of the Alban Arena near the stage door, and I could see several HWIers waiting as I drove into the car park. I met Steve H at the car park ticket machine, and joined the others shortly afterwards, the usual suspects Grant has mentioned but also It was nice to see Joyce from the Netherlands and Tim from the USA again.
Hayley and her band arrived shortly after 3.30, and we were able to have a short chat with her, and I was able to give her a DVD of the videos I had made of her performance at Beaumanor.
We then had a nice meal together at Wetherspoons, before the show. I think the Poppy People who turned up at the theatre for the photos with Hayley were a bit disappointed that Hayley wanted to rest her voice, but they were soon doing a roaring trade selling poppies anyway, including to several of the HWI group.
My seat was in the fifth row, a little way behind Grant and the others. This was not a particularly good place for taking photographs. There seemed to be no obvious restrictions on photography, so I took that as a green light. I didn't take very many, I thought this time I would just mostly enjoy the show, but do have a few that I will post later.
The show was a couple of minutes late starting. Then out came Tim, Andy and Raven, soon followed by Hayley in her "iTunes" dress, and soon as always, the theatre was filled with her beautiful voice singing Prayer. For all the worries about Hayley's voice, she sounded wonderful. Perhaps resting her voice had worked.
Grant has already described the various mishaps that befell Hayley and the other performers, so I won't repeat that.
After Hayley's first set Raven came on, and were brilliant. I think they just get better and better, and I thought they might even have received louder applause than Hayley!! I thoroughly enjoyed their set.
Hayley's second set was great. Like Grant, I love The Mummers Dance and although my memory could be playing tricks, I felt the arrangement was a bit different to the ROD concerts. I thoroughly enjoyed that, and Amazing Grace, when Hayley mentioned the difficulty she has when the backing is bagpipes, because they play in a key too low for her.
And so to the interval, which nearly resulted in violence as Grant mentioned. A guy on the front row wanted Hayley's autograph, but did not want to meet her personally because he had a cold, and didn't want to risk infecting her. I wish for Hayley's sake that everyone was so considerate! We were able to attract John Marco's attention, and he was able to get the signing done backstage.
There were some empty seats in the front row, but these were well to the right of the stage and would have been at a less than ideal angle for photography. The fracas during the interval made me think better of it, so I stayed where I was.
The second half started with Raven, again fine performaces. Then Hayley and I Know You By Heart. This was just stunning! It sounded as if some adjustments had been made to the sound system during the interval, there seemed to be a bit more reverb on Hayley's voice, and it really sounded wonderful. I have to say I rather liked the Arena acoustically (don't let the word "Arena" fool you into think this is a large hall, it isn't). This was the first time I had heard Hayley perform this song, and I loved it. I also made an attempt to video it, but not wishing to disturb others with the light from my camera screen, I filed it "blind". The result is interesting, it starts off OK, then Hayley slowly sinks off the bottom of the screen, a pity, but at least you can hear how wonderful she sounded. I think I will wait to see if anyone else has a better video before I post it, I know that both Drew (who was up in the front row of the circle) and Andy Moore's people were in action with video cameras, so I live in hope.
This set I think was Hayley's "soulful" set, with I Know You By Heart followed by the beautiful Never Saw Blue, Pokarekare Ana (has there ever been a concert where Hayley didn't sing that one, and it still gets to me) and River of Dreams
Raven then had a brief slot before Hayley returned with Santa Lucia, always a favourite of mine, and Both Sides Now. Then it was Wuthering Heights which took me by surprise. Was it the end of the show already?? With Hayley's concerts, the end always comes too soon. But then I remembered that I had promised to video this if I ever got the chance. This time I had the screen on, trying to hide it under my coat, not very successfully, but then I had another problem, the lady in front of me who kept moving about and blocking my camera's view. I did have some freedom of movement though, the seat to my left was empty. It was still a struggle to keep a clear sight of Hayley, and sometimes I lost her. Again, the sound is fine, and again I will wait and see what the other video photographers have. Maybe I will post these videos as examples of the problems you can have.
Hayley performed one encore, Hine e Hine. Then it was time to leave, so round to the stage door to catch Hayley. She wasn't very long, and I have nothing to add to what Grant has described.
Martin
I've surfaced again after Church this morning at a spell of greenhouse building. It is just about done now, I put the door on today!
Thanks Grant for the report, there is not a lot I can add to it really. My day was rather similar to yours! But I Will try to add a few bits.
I left home a bit later than Grant did, 1pm,being about 30 miles closer to the venue, and gave up on the attempt to buy fuel for my car, having seen the length of the queues at the two local garages I passed, I decided that I had enough diesel to get to St Albans and back
Drove down the M1 through the drizzle, and got there about 2.30. There is an underground car park at the back of the Alban Arena near the stage door, and I could see several HWIers waiting as I drove into the car park. I met Steve H at the car park ticket machine, and joined the others shortly afterwards, the usual suspects Grant has mentioned but also It was nice to see Joyce from the Netherlands and Tim from the USA again.
Hayley and her band arrived shortly after 3.30, and we were able to have a short chat with her, and I was able to give her a DVD of the videos I had made of her performance at Beaumanor.
We then had a nice meal together at Wetherspoons, before the show. I think the Poppy People who turned up at the theatre for the photos with Hayley were a bit disappointed that Hayley wanted to rest her voice, but they were soon doing a roaring trade selling poppies anyway, including to several of the HWI group.
My seat was in the fifth row, a little way behind Grant and the others. This was not a particularly good place for taking photographs. There seemed to be no obvious restrictions on photography, so I took that as a green light. I didn't take very many, I thought this time I would just mostly enjoy the show, but do have a few that I will post later.
The show was a couple of minutes late starting. Then out came Tim, Andy and Raven, soon followed by Hayley in her "iTunes" dress, and soon as always, the theatre was filled with her beautiful voice singing Prayer. For all the worries about Hayley's voice, she sounded wonderful. Perhaps resting her voice had worked.
Grant has already described the various mishaps that befell Hayley and the other performers, so I won't repeat that.
After Hayley's first set Raven came on, and were brilliant. I think they just get better and better, and I thought they might even have received louder applause than Hayley!! I thoroughly enjoyed their set.
Hayley's second set was great. Like Grant, I love The Mummers Dance and although my memory could be playing tricks, I felt the arrangement was a bit different to the ROD concerts. I thoroughly enjoyed that, and Amazing Grace, when Hayley mentioned the difficulty she has when the backing is bagpipes, because they play in a key too low for her.
And so to the interval, which nearly resulted in violence as Grant mentioned. A guy on the front row wanted Hayley's autograph, but did not want to meet her personally because he had a cold, and didn't want to risk infecting her. I wish for Hayley's sake that everyone was so considerate! We were able to attract John Marco's attention, and he was able to get the signing done backstage.
There were some empty seats in the front row, but these were well to the right of the stage and would have been at a less than ideal angle for photography. The fracas during the interval made me think better of it, so I stayed where I was.
The second half started with Raven, again fine performaces. Then Hayley and I Know You By Heart. This was just stunning! It sounded as if some adjustments had been made to the sound system during the interval, there seemed to be a bit more reverb on Hayley's voice, and it really sounded wonderful. I have to say I rather liked the Arena acoustically (don't let the word "Arena" fool you into think this is a large hall, it isn't). This was the first time I had heard Hayley perform this song, and I loved it. I also made an attempt to video it, but not wishing to disturb others with the light from my camera screen, I filed it "blind". The result is interesting, it starts off OK, then Hayley slowly sinks off the bottom of the screen, a pity, but at least you can hear how wonderful she sounded. I think I will wait to see if anyone else has a better video before I post it, I know that both Drew (who was up in the front row of the circle) and Andy Moore's people were in action with video cameras, so I live in hope.
This set I think was Hayley's "soulful" set, with I Know You By Heart followed by the beautiful Never Saw Blue, Pokarekare Ana (has there ever been a concert where Hayley didn't sing that one, and it still gets to me) and River of Dreams
Raven then had a brief slot before Hayley returned with Santa Lucia, always a favourite of mine, and Both Sides Now. Then it was Wuthering Heights which took me by surprise. Was it the end of the show already?? With Hayley's concerts, the end always comes too soon. But then I remembered that I had promised to video this if I ever got the chance. This time I had the screen on, trying to hide it under my coat, not very successfully, but then I had another problem, the lady in front of me who kept moving about and blocking my camera's view. I did have some freedom of movement though, the seat to my left was empty. It was still a struggle to keep a clear sight of Hayley, and sometimes I lost her. Again, the sound is fine, and again I will wait and see what the other video photographers have. Maybe I will post these videos as examples of the problems you can have.
Hayley performed one encore, Hine e Hine. Then it was time to leave, so round to the stage door to catch Hayley. She wasn't very long, and I have nothing to add to what Grant has described.
Martin
